Tuesday, July 01, 2014

Tue Jul 1st Todays News

Today is an extraordinary day. The birthday of Semmelweis (1818) whose work as a physician gave rise to the legal term "Clean Hands". Or Dorothea Mackellar (1885) who beautifully described Australia in poetry. But for all the amazing wonderful things about today that I could point to, my mind is drawn to the infamous act of cowardice and butchery in which the three bodies of children of Israel were unearthed following their abduction. There is a cowardly dismissal of Middle East events involving Israel by those who do not know or care, that there is blood on both sides. But that is not the case. There is no analog for what Israel does that excuses this murder. It is inexcusable, and those who are responsible need to be brought to justice, and those who excuse should be discredited. Three boys went to a religious function and were on their way home when they were abducted. They were not warriors. Targeting them was an act of terror. One boy had been able to use his phone to let people know he had been abducted. That call was the last anyone heard him alive. It is not too hard to follow the mindset of the terrorists, but remarkably, one mother of one suspect has claimed she is proud of her son for doing it. I want religious authorities of the perpetrators to denounce the activity. If that mum has excused the activity, I want her discredited. Saddam Hussein had paid money to family of suicide bombers. If her people are serious about wanting peace, perhaps they will meet similar justice as was applied to Saddam. One imagines the terrorists alerted to the phone call told the boys that they would have to die and not merely be hostages because of it. They probably did their best to torture the boys, and blame them, before killing them. But the boys had done nothing wrong. Earlier this year, Obama had forced Israel to release terrorists who had killed, from jail for peace. No peace has been forthcoming from those terrorist supporters. One of the boys was a US citizen .. someone Obama has sworn an oath to protect and serve. But instead, the US President has paid US money to support a terrorist administration. Maybe Hamas will deny the activity, they have not yet, instead accusing Israel of overstating the crime. The UN cannot endorse this crime, and if they fail to act on it, they need to be dismantled. Three boys kidnapped, tortured and murdered by terrorists. Who dares support that? The incident is not isolated in Middle East terrorist history. The second intifada, which began after Bill Clinton embarrassed Arafat over a Monica Special cigar transformed a lynching of two Israeli security detail who had been illegally lured and detained by so called Palestinian authorities. This incident is on a par. A crime against humanity linked by successive Democrat party US Presidents. ===For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball
===

Happy birthday and many happy returns Faris Australia. Today is Canada Day! Enjoy something with maple syrup. On this day in 1879, American evangelist Charles Taze Russell published the first issue of The Watchtower, the most widely circulated magazine in the world. In 1911, The German gunboat Panther arrived in the Moroccan port of Agadir, sparking the Agadir Crisis between Germany, Great Britain, and France. In 1963, The British government revealed that former MI6 agent Kim Philby had engaged in espionage for the Soviet Union. Sometimes those little things you do cause a big ruckus. Generally you sell your message well, but not everything should be free. Keep your heart with the Lord and avoid its betrayal .. and on this day .. well .. be nice. Enjoy your day!
Matches

Tim Blair – Tuesday,July 01,2014 (1:30pm)

While there are many controversial aspects to the company, one of the biggest topics is thesexualization and exploitation of women, as well as the pressure the brand places on individuals to conform to normative standards of beauty …

With all these strikes against them, American Apparel should most likely be considered one of the most sexist, misogynist clothing companies out there.

In Sweden, American Apparel is condemned as the sexist of the year. But in Australia, feminists give them money. Perhaps our frightbats missed this piece in Fairfax’s ladypages.

Tim Blair – Tuesday,July 01,2014 (10:29am)

Of course, we do look to bring out the danger in the idea being presented. There is not much danger in the title, Honour Killings Are Morally Reprehensible. Such a title merely states the obvious and would hardly be deserving of inclusion in a Festival of Dangerous Ideas.

So the festival’s name was the problem all along! Easily fixed. Just change it to Festival of Ideas That Aren’t Completely Retarded.

In fact, here are the only things Reith actually said in the column about Abbott:

Despite the media’s obsession with Clive Palmer last week, Tony Abbott
had a very good week of his own. He will soon achieve the four big
promises made in the 2013 election. The boats have been largely stopped,
the carbon tax will soon be repealed, the mining tax will go and Abbott
will be the infrastructure Prime Minister....
History is more likely to remember the Abbott changes whereas Palmer will be lucky if anyone even remembers the stunts…
The problem of the 2013 election manifesto was that it did not offer
enough. The four big promises may now be fulfilled but, although useful,
they don’t give the economy the shot in the arm it needs in the way
that labour market reform or tax reform or welfare reform would have
done. So now the government is promising the bigger reforms, all of
which will be put to the electorate at the 2016 election…
With difficult reforms like welfare and tax changes, Tony Abbott could
do with some good policies that are also popular with the Liberal base.

How on earth do Reith’s words justify the cartoon? Why did The Age put the most negative angle into the headline, which falsely implies Abbott isn’t tackling big issues?

“They were kidnapped and murdered in cold blood by animals,” Haaretz
quoted Netanyahu as saying at a hastily arranged security cabinet
meeting. “In the name of the whole of Israel, I ask to tell the dear
families - to the mothers, the fathers, the grandmothers and the
grandfathers, the brothers and sisters - our hearts are bleeding, the
whole nation is crying with them.”
The leader’s angry words came hours after the search for Eyal Yifrach,
19; Gilad Shaar, 16; and Naftali Frenkel, also 16, who were snatched
while hitchhiking, ended in the West Bank, where Hamas operates.

Israel is the Left’s favourite villain, condemned for measures it takes
to defend its civilians and its democracy. Perhaps more Leftists may now
contemplate the nature of its enemy and the folly of imagining peace is
possible if Israel just trades off some of its security.

I was in the audience for Q&A;tonight. I arrived early and got a
coffee. When the bell went to go in everyone in the cafe rose to their
feet and headed out. As I looked at the sea of paper coffee cups and
screwed up napkins which no one made any effort to drop in the supplied
bin I thought “what a bunch of dirty pigs”. Of course this also
confirmed that the audience was stacked with lefties. Even their rubbish
is someone else’s responsibility.

A BRISBANE media agency involved in Clive Palmer’s federal election campaign received $2.167 million in Chinese government cash allegedly siphoned from an account controlled by the businessman at the time of his record-spending bid to enter parliament.
The Australian can reveal that new documents show the agency, Media
Circus Network, received the payment with cheque No 2073 drawn on a
National Australia Bank account called “Port Palmer Operations’’, just
five days before the September 7 election.
Documents obtained from the Supreme Court of Queensland yesterday show
that one month earlier, a sum of $10m went to one of Mr Palmer’s
companies, Cosmo Developments, after being removed from the same bank
account with cheque No 2046. Company searches show Cosmo Developments,
which is owned by Mr Palmer’s flagship company Mineralogy, has one
director, Mr Palmer’s nephew Clive Mensink.
Both men were yesterday named in subpoenas requiring them to hand over
numerous documents as part of Chinese state-owned company Citic
Pacific’s quest to determine how and why the $12.167m was withdrawn from
an account set up to run an iron ore port in Western Australia....
Under formal contracts and deeds, the NAB account’s funds were only
meant to be spent by Mr Palmer’s company on expenses for running the
port of Cape Preston, a hub for the export of iron ore from Mineralogy’s
West Australian tenements being mined by the Chinese subsidiaries of
Citic ­Pacific. New evidence suggesting that at least $2.167m of the
Chinese money was instead directed with out their permission or
knowledge is likely to be referred to police fraud squad detectives in
Queensland and Western Australia by Citic Pacific.

Palmer denies all allegations.
A further question - should the claims prove right: is Palmer really so short of money that he needed to do any of this?
UPDATE
Hedley Thomas:

DID the People’s Republic of China
unknowingly bankroll the Palmer United Party’s
balance-of-power-achieving success in the federal election last
September?…
Given the Chinese antipathy towards Palmer, the dawning knowledge in
Beijing that their money appears to have been wrongfully used to pump up
the tycoon’s political tyres is going down like a cup of cold congee.
But it is a bigger problem for Palmer, who denies any wrongdoing,
because the Chinese are likely to ask the police to take it to the next
level.

CLIVE Palmer could face arrest unless he fronts a
secret arbitration hearing with chequebook stubs that show how he spent
$12m that a Chinese company has accused him of taking during last year’s
election campaign.
Sino Iron yesterday swamped the Queensland Supreme Court with 15
applications, including a personal subpoena for the federal politician,
demanding he produce butts for two cheques numbered 2046 and 2073… The
chequebook belongs to Mr Palmer’s parent company, Mineralogy Pty Ltd…
Mr Palmer’s subpoena, and others, stated: “Failure to comply with this
subpoena without lawful excuse is contempt of Court and may result in
your arrest.” It was not clear from Mr Palmer’s redacted subpoena when
he was required to appear but the NAB and others were told to front the
tribunal on or before July 11.

I had the feeling the Abbott Government was slowly digging itself out of a hole, as the Essential Media poll suggested, too. Newspoll today says I’m wrong:

Labor has a 10-point lead in two-party terms to be ahead 55 to 45 per cent,
the same result as in the first poll after the May budget. It marks a
7.5 percentage point swing since the election and the Coalition’s equal
worst result in four years.
Voter dissatisfaction with Tony Abbott has reached the highest level
since he became Prime Minister, 62 per cent, and is his worst personal
result since November 2012.

It is time for the Government to reconsider “steady as she goes” as the
appropriate strategy. Change is needed, particularly in messaging, and
change and penitence will also need to be signalled between now and the
end of the year. Young, aggressive talent needs to be introduced into
the ministry. Can-do ministers need to be given more to do, and
say-little ones need retirement.
UPDATE
Phillip Hudson notes one unambiguously good part of the poll figures:

Palmer’s stunt with Al Gore in Parliament’s Great Hall and boasting
about holding the balance of power in the new Senate has done nothing to
win votes for his Palmer United Party, despite voters clearly being put
off by the major parties.
PUP continues to flatline with 2 to 3 per cent national support, although it is higher in Queensland and Western Australia.

But Shorten wins when politics is a clown show:

But what the Palmer drama does is make politics look like clowns
climbing in and out of increasingly small cars as a distraction from
important debates about how we fund the future…
Yet Shorten does nothing more than pop up to agree with voters that the
budget is rotten without offering any solutions to the mess left by
Labor. So far he’s getting away with it, just like Abbott used to when
he was leader of the Opposition.

TREASURY chief Martin Parkinson has warned that
opposition to the savings measures in the budget risks inflicting
long-term damage to Australia’s economic future.
Dr Parkinson also declares that Australia’s budget position is not
sustainable without major reform and the government’s budget strategy
achieves this…
“It is one thing to argue that reform proposals should be designed with
fairness in mind,” he said. “But it is quite another to invoke vague
notions of fairness to oppose all reform. Using such an argument to
defend an unsustainable status quo means consigning Australia to a
deteriorating future.” ...
Continued increases in income taxes would hit lower and middle-income
earners hardest, and have adverse impacts on labour force participation
while “sharpening incentives for tax minimisation by the highest income
earners.”

Event organisers cancelled the planned talk
hours after the program was released, by issuing a statement… “It is
clear from the public reaction that the title has given the wrong
impression of what Mr Badar intended to discuss. Neither Mr Badar, the
St James Ethics Centre, nor Sydney Opera House in any way advocates
honour killings or condones any form of violence against women."…
Dr Longstaff appeared to back Mr Badar by claiming the gig was cancelled because the speaker was Muslim.
“Have not the ‘Islamophobes’ already won the day when a person dare not
speak on controversial matters because he is Muslim,” he wrote to one
user.

But these are the facts - Badar did indeed support some “honour killings”, which he linked to Islam. Organiser Simon Longstaff now writes:

I approached Uthman Badar (of whom I
will say more later) and began a discussion about how such a session
might be run and eventually how it might be described. My opening email
to Uthman Badar set out the issue (as above) and then established the
context for the session, where I wrote:

“...Ideally, we are looking for a speaker who
will lay done [sic] the arguments that they believe would justify
killing for honour (including killing one’s own children) in
the extraordinary circumstances where this might be necessary. It may be
that the argument needs to be couched in terms of culture and custom -
and that there is not an argument for allowing the practice to be
followed in Australia...”

Uthman and I then exchanged a number of emails in which he outlined his views. In summary,
he does not support vigilante behaviour by families (or anyone).
Rather, he believes that the administration of justice should be
according to Islamic Law - ideally, within the politico-religious
context of an Islamic Caliphate. In such a state (the Caliphate), crimes - and their associated penalties - would be defined and dealt with, not as a matter of “honour,” but as a matter of Law. For example, the crime of adultery would be punished by death - and so on.
Uthman was then proposing to consider how families might respond in
conditions where they are denied the “benefit” of living in a Caliphate.
Would they be justified in taking Islamic Law into their own hands when
no legitimate magistrate can be found to administer this distinct form
of “justice”? ... [Badar wrote:]

“End of the day the honour killings discussion is, at
its essence, a discussion about different ideological/cultural values
and practices - in our case western liberal values and Islamic values.”

...I then wrote to Uthman the following email, the intent of which is self-evident:

“I see, Uthman. You would argue that killing for the honour of the
family is wrong (as is killing for the honour of country, religion,
flag, etc.). However, I take it that if the Law of God prescribes that
the penalty of death for an adulterer - then to impose such a penalty is
right. Is this a correct understanding of your position? And if so, is
such a penalty prescribed under Islamic Law?
“I ask this, because I do not wish to have you argue a position that
is not in accordance with what you believe. Rather, we might be able to
open up the discussion about liberalism, etc. by beginning with an
alternative dangerous idea - that adulterers should be condemned to
death (or some such wording). Would this be a better option - from your
point of view?"…

Uthman responded as follows:

“I’d rather not go with the adultery topic. It’s too
narrow. If it’s between this and the original, I’d prefer the honour
killings topic. What’s the intended wording here?
”If we go with something like ‘Honour killings are morally
justified’ or similar, I’d be okay with that. I could define honour
killings in a way where I genuinely argue for the case and at the same time touch on the broader issues.”

So, no, the public did not misunderstand the topic. Yes, Badar indeed planned to argue for “honour killings”.
And, yes, the organisers were indeed prepared to host a discussion
arguing for the killing (by the state) of wives and daughters who’d
“shamed” their family’s “honor”.
Despicable.
(Thanks to reader David.)

I suspect you’re now
wondering what kind of people run the Socialist Alternative - a movement
whose followers physically attacked Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and
whose official magazine just put this on its cover:

Andrew Bolt described the March in March as “a carnival of brutal, savage, expletive-riddled political hate”.
For once in my life I agree with him. And I couldn’t be happier.
I was fortunate enough to be taking photographs for Red Flag along the
route of the Melbourne demonstration, and can confirm that many placards
and banners ridiculing our dear leader were indeed as flamboyant and
acid tongued as various hyperventilating Murdoch writers made out…
There is, of course, more to political struggle than the expression of
anger. But a good place to start is identifying with the people who
think the best thing that could happen to Tony Abbott is a solid punch in the face.

I’ve often said the Left is now the natural home of the totalitarian and the thug. Not to mention the barbarian.

Courage is continuing in spite of the pain.

===To anyone that's ever broken a bone, the negatives of traditional plaster casts are familiar: they're cumbersome, heavy, and can get rather smelly. Victoria University of Wellington graduate Jake Evill is looking to change all that with his Cortex cast. A mere concept for now, Evill says the cast — which is specifically fitted to each wearer based on X-rays of the fractured bone and a 3D scan of its surrounding limb — introduces many benefits. First and foremost, you'd be able to wear a longsleeve shirt over the lightweight, ventilated nylon cast.

The Cortex would be 3D printed on site, according to Evill, and each cast would be most dense near the location of a wearer's fracture. "After many centuries of splints and cumbersome plaster casts that have been the itchy and smelly bane of millions of children, adults and the aged alike, the world over, we at last bring fracture support into the twenty-first century," says Evill. His Cortex cast may still be awkward from a fashion perspective, but it's a marked improvement over where things stand today.

The villains, according to this scenario, were Heinrich Himmler and Josef Goebbels who influenced Hitler to adopt ever more rigid positions, while his deputy Hermann Goering encouraged him to opt for a less belligerent stance.

Again, for those unaware, Goering was the egotistical, gluttonous and greedy hedonist who sadistically robbed helpless Jews and thereby amassed a vast personal fortune. Its crowning glory was an extraordinary art collection comprised initially foremost of works plundered from Jews. Goering ordered the registration of all Jewish property and personal belongings to make the pickings easier. Outrageously, the Nazis’ most prolific looter levied incredible fines on Germany’s Jews for damages inflicted upon them during the anti-Jewish rampages of Kristallnacht.
===... " Rudd is the uncooked sausage at every barbie." - Dallas Beaufort

Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.

Here we see Rudd trying to impress businessmen in Western Sydney.Lack of eye contact is typical of those who have no empathy towards others typical of those who suffer from Aspbergers syndrome and schizophrenia.

Is Rudd mentally stable to be leading government ? The animosity towards him can be seen by the number of resignations.

This is a serious political crisis.Our nation is being squeezed to the last drop so Rudd can play his little mind games while the rich remain rich but the poor become poorer.

Rudd, a multi millionaire himself whose wife benefitted from Liberal employment policies,is no friend of working Australians.

Nouveau riche pratts never are.
===I am angry if what has been reported is the final outcome of the inquiry. I understand that the report says that child reporting should not be mandatory. Presumably, this would excuse parliamentarians from shredding legal documents in the case of a child gang rape in a state run detention centre. Rudd should face justice over the issue .. he is Prime Minister, not Prime Monster. - ed
===I liked this lighthouse in Chatham Illinois and got off the road to find it. The owner turned out to be a great guy who gave me a complete tour of the place and we wound up talking and hanging out for a while. A nice little moment to break up a very long drive while on tour with Yahoo! on their On The Road campaign. — in Chatham, IL.
===

1959 – Specific values for the international yard, avoirdupois pound and derived units (e.g. inch, mile and ounce) are adopted after agreement between the U.S.A., the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries.

Morning

Behold the superlative liberality of the Lord Jesus, for he hath given us his all. Although a tithe of his possessions would have made a universe of angels rich beyond all thought, yet was he not content until he had given us all that he had. It would have been surprising grace if he had allowed us to eat the crumbs of his bounty beneath the table of his mercy; but he will do nothing by halves, he makes us sit with him and share the feast. Had he given us some small pension from his royal coffers, we should have had cause to love him eternally; but no, he will have his bride as rich as himself, and he will not have a glory or a grace in which she shall not share. He has not been content with less than making us joint-heirs with himself, so that we might have equal possessions. He has emptied all his estate into the coffers of the Church, and hath all things common with his redeemed. There is not one room in his house the key of which he will withhold from his people. He gives them full liberty to take all that he hath to be their own; he loves them to make free with his treasure, and appropriate as much as they can possibly carry. The boundless fulness of his all-sufficiency is as free to the believer as the air he breathes. Christ hath put the flagon of his love and grace to the believer's lip, and bidden him drink on forever; for could he drain it, he is welcome to do so, and as he cannot exhaust it, he is bidden to drink abundantly, for it is all his own. What truer proof of fellowship can heaven or earth afford?

"When I stand before the throne

Dressed in beauty not my own;

When I see thee as thou art,

Love thee with unsinning heart;

Then, Lord, shall I fully know--

Not till then--how much I owe."

Evening

"Ah Lord God, behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee."Jeremiah 32:17

At the very time when the Chaldeans surrounded Jerusalem, and when the sword, famine and pestilence had desolated the land, Jeremiah was commanded by God to purchase a field, and have the deed of transfer legally sealed and witnessed. This was a strange purchase for a rational man to make. Prudence could not justify it, for it was buying with scarcely a probability that the person purchasing could ever enjoy the possession. But it was enough for Jeremiah that his God had bidden him, for well he knew that God will be justified of all his children. He reasoned thus: "Ah, Lord God! thou canst make this plot of ground of use to me; thou canst rid this land of these oppressors; thou canst make me yet sit under my vine and my fig-tree in the heritage which I have bought; for thou didst make the heavens and the earth, and there is nothing too hard for thee." This gave a majesty to the early saints, that they dared to do at God's command things which carnal reason would condemn. Whether it be a Noah who is to build a ship on dry land, an Abraham who is to offer up his only son, or a Moses who is to despise the treasures of Egypt, or a Joshua who is to besiege Jericho seven days, using no weapons but the blasts of rams' horns, they all act upon God's command, contrary to the dictates of carnal reason; and the Lord gives them a rich reward as the result of their obedient faith. Would to God we had in the religion of these modern times a more potent infusion of this heroic faith in God. If we would venture more upon the naked promise of God, we should enter a world of wonders to which as yet we are strangers. Let Jeremiah's place of confidence be ours--nothing is too hard for the God that created the heavens and the earth.

===

Tobiah, Tobijah

[Tōbī'ah,Tōbī'jah] - jehovah is good.

A Levite sent by Jehoshaphat to instruct the people of Judah (2 Chron. 17:8).

A founder of a tribal family the descendants of which returned from exile but were unable to trace their genealogy (Ezra 2:60; Neh. 7:62).

An Ammonite who with Sanballat and others ridiculed the efforts of the Jews to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem (Neh. 2:10; 4:3, 7). This enemy of Nehemiah and of the Jews was silenced by the diligence of the people.

A chief man whose posterity returned from exile (Zech. 6:10, 14). He it was who obtained the gold and silver for Joshua's crown.

Today's Old Testament reading: Job 17-19

3 "Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.Who else will put up security for me?4 You have closed their minds to understanding;therefore you will not let them triumph.5 If anyone denounces their friends for reward,the eyes of their children will fail.

Today's New Testament reading: Acts 10:1-23

Cornelius Calls for Peter

1 At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly. 3 One day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision. He distinctly saw an angel of God, who came to him and said, "Cornelius!"

4 Cornelius stared at him in fear. "What is it, Lord?" he asked.

The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God. 5 Now send men to Joppa to bring back a man named Simon who is called Peter. 6 He is staying with Simon the tanner, whose house is by the sea."

7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants. 8 He told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa....

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About Me

I'm author of History in a Year by the Conservative Voice aka History of the World in a Year by the Conservative Voice.

I'm the Conservative Voice.

I'm looking to make contact with those who might use my skill.

I have an m-audio mobile pre amp fed by the audiotechnica 2041sp condensor mic pack. Prior to 15/4/06, I'd used a Shure sm-58 that required a nuclear blast to register a sound or the internal mic of my aged imac, which has a penchance to recording my breathing. I also used a Griffin itrip, until the community convinced me it was not hiding my talent as well as the other mics.

I am a Writer and an occasional Math Teacher (Sir, what's the occasion?). I like to sing, having no instrumental talent (cannot even clap in time, and yes, I'm aware singing badly IS obnoxious).

I have performed the finale to Les Miserables before an audience of 500. I have also sung before a similar audience (students, parents) renditions of 'I Will' (Beatles), 'Mr Cairo' (Jon Vangelis) and 'I am Australian' (Seekers). Now I seek another profession because the audience hates me ..